 Hello everybody and welcome back to the Think Tech Hawaii studio for another exciting episode of Security Matters. And I hope you're joining us today because of our guest, not me. Janet Fenner is amazing and the one benefit of COVID is that she got stuck someplace long enough. I could get her on the screen. She's a busy woman. Janet, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks so much, Andrew. I definitely appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for that great introduction. Well, I just see you everywhere in the industry. You're really busy. I know doing so many things, right? And so now I understand you're stuck home when your teenagers are eating your refrigerator, picking it clean. Yeah, seriously, you can't keep up with them at all. Every single time you turn around, you're like, I have to go food shopping again. I don't want to do that. I live in New York. The last place I want to be is anywhere near the food market. So yeah, so I'm like, calm down, settle down. Good. Well, I'm glad you're safe at home. You appear well fed, so you're hanging on to the crumbs that they're leaving for you, apparently. Exactly. So for our audience who may not know you enough, because I think most of our industry does. But anyway, give us some sort of your history as much as you'd like to share and then kind of bring it forward through the industry and bring us up to sort of where you're at today. Sure. So I started the industry probably around 1997, believe it or not, that long ago. I'm dating myself. So it has been an incredible ride. I have basically started with a small company called Temtech, who actually developed color changing technology on identification badges. And they actually were acquired by the Brady people ID company. What was interesting is not too long ago, I had a meeting at the VMware building in California and their actual badges were the identification badges that I started the industry with. And it was pretty cool to see that that technology was still around as non-technology driven as it is. It's just color changing. And so that was interesting. And then from there I moved on to, yeah. So I moved into companies like Identicard, Brady people ID, Jam Plastics, Identicam. So it was all under the Brady people umbrella that I represented about five different brands, including Stopware, who are still a company in the industries. I love to see them at trade shows. I love to see their growth. I still follow them. I still have really good networking relationships with them. And then from there I went to go work for Frank Defina at Samsung when Samsung was just starting out in the industry, which is interesting because I remember even when Samsung had their first trade show, we had people come into the booth and go, can you fix my phone? Do you have a charger? And you're just like, that's not what we do here. So Samsung had no presence in surveillance at all. So it definitely took a little while for us to, even though we had the brand, which was fantastic, it took a little while for us to brand that company into the product line that it basically served. And that was a great ride with Defina. He was an incredible person, great mentor. And then from there, Samsung sold their division to a company called Hanwa. And then Hanwa was a big entity, loved working for them as well. And then from there, I wanted to continue my career and started working with Dawah. And they were definitely very interesting. They just, they had a lot of hurdles to overcome. And it was very challenging. The team there was great. I still have good relationships with them. But unfortunately, it was a definitely hard product to position with all the laws that were against them. And then from there, ISS came and I ended up going to work for them for a little while. Awesome. So yeah, so you were at Dawah, I guess when the whole NDAA thing, when the FedGov was looking at those companies and going, oh, we don't know about this. Yeah, that's difficult. How do you message that, right? Yeah, it's hard. It was definitely hard to, you know, well, it was great. I love the challenge of branding a company that for me, I absolutely love is one of my favorite things to do. The challenge, the branding, getting the name out there is my favorite thing to do out of anything. And it's something that Dawah needed and I loved positioning them that they ran into that whole big hurdle, which was a hard thing for that company to face. It was very hard. Even though they had a strong product line globally, it was still a hard challenge here in the United States. Sure, yeah. A lot of companies have had that when they came here. I remember companies have come out of Australia, companies have come out of Asia, and you know, it's not the same here. There's different rules that they have to play by sometimes. It makes it tough. And so how did the branding, you know, how did that passion for branding, because it's sort of a unique piece of marketing. You know, I did a Masters in Coms and it was kind of like this shotgun thing where, you know, you got a little bit of everything. And so I think in marketing, it's the cool thing about it is you can take a piece of it and actually, you know, if you're passionate about it, that can become your expertise. And it seems like that's sort of what you've developed over time. How did it first come to that? Or was it just naturally in you to want to, like, shout it from the mountaintops? You know, what's interesting is I actually started my career as an art director. So my experience comes as a foundation of a graphic designer. And then along the way, one of the mentors that I had in the field by the name of Dana Milky, he basically saw that I was doing more marketing than I was doing when I was positioning for graphics. And he saw that I had a really good knack for it. And he actually took me and transitioned me into the marketing realm, which was something that completely opened my world up. And it was a really great fit. I absolutely loved it. And he really took my hand into it and said, listen, he's like, this is what we're going to do with this. And he basically on the field training and he was a great mentor along the way who cemented me in marketing. And from there, you know, this is why I always tell people, if you're going to hire somebody, don't always just judge them by their college degree or foundation. Don't judge them by who they are because they will surprise you with what they can bring to the table. And just having somebody have the confidence in changing my career path has been astronomical. And even to this day, it's been probably about 15, 16, 15 years since I've worked with him. And I have Dana to thank for changing my path. Wow. So did you have an art background as well? Yeah, I do. I have a degree in graphic design and concentration in that. And so I use that for the first probably about eight years of my career in growing as an art director and graphics and then graphic manager and then art director. And then from art director, I transitioned into, I stepped into marketing and it was fantastic. Because did that inform it? Because it seems to me to have an artist's eye, right? When you talk about the passion for branding, right? You had to, you know, there's some imagery that goes along with that, right? To help with the messaging that you create. And so did that inform it? I mean, were you making this up as you went along? Like for these companies that you worked for and say, look, here's the image we need. And you know, or was it like a group thing thing? Or was it more, you were able to drive that with some of your own vision? No, it was, what was great is having the ability to, I think the creative end of it really lent into the vision, the execution of the vision is saying, what are we about? What do we position ourselves like this? Why don't we think outside the box? And really would tie everything together. One thing that I recommend for any company out there that has a marketing department, you want to be successful. And I swear by this is have your marketing team go into the field with your sales team. Because sales and marketing seriously have to work hand in hand. And if that happens, marketing gets to learn the pain points that sales are trying to solve in order to communicate. If you can help the marketing team understand what it is that you're positioning, you're going to have an incredible time selling something. So the more you can bond marketing with sales, the more successful your company is going to be. Working in silos is not going to work. A lot of times I find companies that their marketing departments are like, well, why does he need budgets for that? Or why do they need this? Or why do they have to attend that? And they get very particular with their budgets instead of saying, how can I help you in the field? What is it that you're doing and showing them and taking their hand and walking them through to a customer, getting them to see firsthand what they're trying to do is definitely going to increase the efforts of what marketing does with sales. That is a golden nugget that I think a lot of people miss. The sales person is called upon to solve some sort of problem. So when the messaging behind the products are offering those solutions, more people are going to pick up on those solutions that they're looking for. Because a lot of times most people have sort of the same problems when they're calling integrators up to get help. That's insightful. Were you able to spend that time in the field yourself? Or was this something that you just sort of pioneered and said, hey, here's how we're going to do this. We're going out with sales and let's gather our info first before we get started with even creating the brand. Yeah. One of the companies that really helped my career grow, believe it or not, was Dahua because they actually moved me from marketing over to business development. They were like, you know, you know, a lot of people get out there, position yourself, help us out. And being in that sales role from a marketing viewpoint, it opened up an entire arena that I was just like, wow, almost to the point that I'm like, I really like business development. I mean, you don't know it. At first I was like, well, I don't want to do business development. And they're like, yeah, that's what you're going to do. I'm like, well, I really, you know, but they're like, then finally, like, do I have a choice? And they're like, not really. So you move into it. And sometimes the most amazing things happen outside your comfort zone. And I definitely learned that hands on. And I do thank them for exposing me to an incredible business development world that I absolutely loved leveraging the network, talking to people, trying to gain the sales, building the relationship. So I love that. And it's something that even when I went to ISS, I brought that business development mindset with me. And whenever our sales team had to go meet with other people, I was there along with them to help them understand our product line, lend the efforts of the sales process from a marketing standpoint, from a business development standpoint and from the growth standpoint. So it was definitely every path that I've had has been so instrumental and educational. And it's been such an incredible learning experience. So there's a theme that's come out here. I don't know if everybody, if my viewers have picked up on it, but people see, you can do stuff that you didn't know you could do. And they're like, hey, you're going to go this way. And next thing you know, you're doing it and having fun. What do you think about that? Is that a, do you think more people should try things or not afraid of it? Do you think you shouldn't be afraid to get pushed when, you know, in management or seniors ask, you know, hey, go try this. I think you'd be good at it. Yeah, never, never settle for the words. That's not how we used to do it. There's a lot of mergers going on. There's a lot of changes going on. I don't recommend anybody changing fields right now. It's just stay put. You've got a job. Enjoy it. Kind of thing. But as far as career path, definitely get yourself out there. And I truly am a huge believer as nothing ever happens in the comfort zone, when you step out of it, that not only do you learn, but you grow. You grow so much, whether it's positive, whether it's negative, whether you say, I shouldn't have done that or I shouldn't do that. No matter what it adds to who you are and who you can become. So for sure. That's awesome. I love, I love that, that optimism perspective. You know, you got to go out there and try in the world. Okay, we're right about a good spot for a break. We're going to pay some bills for a minute. It'll be right back with Janet Fenner. Don't get lost. Rusty Kamori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach for the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines. And it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. I feature a wide range of amazing guests who share valuable insights about how going beyond the lines leads to success in everything you do in life. I'm looking forward to you joining me every Monday at 11 a.m. Aloha. Hey, Aloha, and welcome back to Security Matters. We're live from the Think Tech, Hawaii studios today with Janet Fenner. Janet, thanks so much again for joining us today. I appreciate you being here. You were sharing like your secret sauce for marketing there. So thank you very much for that. And I know you also contribute to a lot of other industry organizations. So I know you're on the board of Security Industry Association. And what an amazing organization. I mean, in this time, they have stepped up massively to get out there to share information with our integrators and with our community at large. I love the leadership they've taken on. Have you had a voice in helping Don and the team over there get some messaging out the door? Well, it's great. I love it when they reach out for different ideas. One thing that we're doing is we're getting ready to hold a kind of like an open panel discussion regarding how to market and how to take advantage of marketing in these times right now because everybody's online. Everybody's paying attention. Everybody's strapped to this computer at home. So how to make them best of it with little resources and how to go ahead and do some branding and do some communication out there as best possible and what to look out for. And we're going to be discussing that. We're going to be discussing that and Cia's giving that platform, which is great. I think it's important for us as an industry to really take advantage of as much learning we can do right now or how do we get through this together? So anybody who can lend their expertise as to how do we get through this tough time because it is tough, it is fantastic. And Cia has been putting a lot of great resources out there as to what companies can take advantage of, what's offered, what's happening, and they're a really good sound board. Yeah. A little bit to your earlier point. I've been listening to a lot of this and a lot of the integrators and manufacturers people talking about what they're doing to get through and some of their strategies. But we haven't heard much from the customers and what they're suffering from to your earlier point. Maybe we need to identify some of this stuff now so that we can help them be a little better prepared next time. A problem like this comes around if it hopefully, whatever it does, I guess we're not immune from future episodes for future events like this. Sure. Sure. It's a good point, Andrew. It definitely is. We have to definitely keep the customer in mind. I mean, Cia represents about over 1,100 companies now and they're doing as much as they possibly can to help the smaller and the big companies get through a tough time like this. Do you know of the companies in New York? You're not far from Manhattan. Are they working? I mean, we're working because we're DOD and critical infrastructure. So the necessary services are the companies that are in New York proper or is everybody in the security industry busy and contributing? I was thinking of how do you secure these pop-up hospitals and things that they're putting like a Javits Center, for example, things like that. That stuff needs security wrapped around it, yeah? I know there's a lot of companies out there that are building campaigns right now to address the healthcare situation and to provide immediate help and immediate assistance for products and allocating resources. So there are companies right now, especially distribution companies that are actually positioning campaigns driven to address healthcare needs. But everything in Manhattan, if you go in there, it's a ghost town. It's very, very eerie to what lack of, what's going on. I have to plug in my computer. Oh, awesome. I told him you're always on the move, see? Oh, there you go. Proof positive. No worries. So the, is there, or have you heard of like municipal government planning around? I've been on a bit of a platform about our industry not being engaged necessarily with the national security discussion, primarily because we are at the infra-guard level and we are at the defense industrial-based level and critical infrastructure-type companies, but a lot of our industry doesn't work there. And I didn't know if you'd seen or heard of any security types in the media there in New York that are, you know, posh mix, an example of someone who sort of tends to get his voice at his company elevated in the national security discussion. I see him on the DHS discussions on the news and things like that from time to time. But, you know, I haven't seen much of it out here other than our company. And I just didn't know what you're seeing in New York. You know, is the industry represented as a, one of the, you know, solid pieces of industry that we need to rely upon when things go bad? Oh, those are just the security guys. They'll come back and sell us more stuff later. I tell you what I have to say. I, you know, I try to, the only piece of news that I listen to right now is when our governor addresses the situation in New York. I think Cuomo, I mean, I give him credit. He's doing a great job in communication. He's putting the political needs aside and he's really doing a great job of communicating. So I listened to his communication and then I basically, I don't, I don't get wrapped up into it at all. I've got two kids at home that are constantly with homework and assignments and, and then the other stuff that I'm working on. So right now I've been very, very siloed as to what I do listen to on the media. So let's talk a little bit about what you've been doing because you were sharing that you've got, you may have a crossroads type of discussion, or, you know, a self-discussion. I'm not sure who will decide. I presume it's you. Talk to us a little bit about that. What that's like at home when you have a lot of time to really consider it. Yeah. So I'm like, hmm. So lately what I've been doing is I've been actually doing a lot of marketing outsourcing for a few companies. I've gained a few clients, which has been really, really great. And I've been very much open to head hunting positions. I'm not actively going out there and looking for a position, but I have been reached out to regarding a few open positions within the industry. Because one thing that I am certain of is I do not want to leave this industry. I absolutely adore it. I've built my career around it. And there's, I will try until I can any longer and then I'll decide to leave. But really I want to stay embedded within the industry. So it's like a part of your family. You've known it for so long. Yeah. And I love the people in it. And I love working this ecosystem that exists. So I'm at a crossroad right now is to do I, you know, do I take a full-time job or do I continue outsourcing and creating an agency type of career out of this opportunity. So it's a good win-win kind of situation because I do have the ability to say what kind of position I want right now and where I want my career to go. So I can get a bit nitpicky and say, yes, no, when an opportunity does present itself. But I absolutely love marketing and being able to outsource to different companies and different messaging for each one of them is such a refreshing role. I absolutely love it. I have to say. And each one is treated completely different. And it's kind of like, here's what you can do. It's like, oh, my gosh, we can do this and we can do that. And it all started because I did a post on social media saying, hey, take advantage. I've got time right now. Anybody wants help on marketing. I'll be more than happy. I mean, Andrew, that response has gotten almost 19,000 views, which is awesome. And I know, I was like, wow. And a few companies did take me up on it, which was great. And so I was very grateful. And a lot of them turned into potential opportunities that we're exploring right now, which is, it's been really great. So I've got a few clients that I've got on board and I'm loving it. But I have been interviewing right now with a certain company. And so let's see what happens out of that. Good, good. It's so fun to have options. And I think our industry is full of them. And I hope that our women in security form and that other people that are looking at our industry don't know much about it. Listen to Janice's story because truly you can move around and do things that you possibly never even imagined yourself doing. And you can contribute and be part of an amazing team in an amazing business, right? This industry protects lives and people at the end of the day. I've never met anyone who's in it that wants out. Let's put it that way. Right. And there's so much amazing technology in this industry. It's like there's nothing boring about our industry at all. I think maybe it's from my viewpoint. I think this industry is super sexy because the technology is so amazing and what it does and how fast it's moving. It's such a speed that we're changing technology right now that it's amazing. It really, really is. So the best thing you can do is network, network, network, be a part of something. Get yourself involved with this industry because I swear to you, you get so much back out of it. You really do. And I am proof positive that that's why. I've built this network. I've grown this network. And now I'm leveraging this network. And it's really working to my advantage, which is fantastic. Yeah, it's important. It's fun to have all the right problems. And this industry is really forgiving. Even in times like this, probably we will grow as an industry. In 0809, we grew as an industry. I think something like since 1972, we've grown into double-digit percentages like every year as an industry. So you can kind of make mistakes and kind of play around and still keep moving forward. You know, it's just, you know, you can have a lot of fun. Yeah. Okay. So let's briefly give a shout out. What do you think some of the things that our Women in Security Forum should be working on? I know we've got a scholarship committee started, which is really fun. What else, what other kind of initiatives do you think we could do to sort of impact the industry, maybe in a place that's missing? Well, I know that we're working really hard on doing presentations on diversifying the industry because it's really, really important. I know that a lot of people listen to Women in Security Forum and they're like, oh, women, it's not like that. It's not like we're out there burning our bras and saying, oh, women, it's rock. It's not like that. It's very important to have the female voice in your company. I mean, there are studies around it as to if you balance your company correctly and you give more of a female voice to it, you really do a great job at learning more about your company and how to position it and how to move it forward. Just segment it to a less diverse experience. You're going to miss out on certain voices that could really lend and make your companies profitable. And there's studies on that. It's not because we're just saying it. So we want to help companies out there diversify. And that's one of the things we're doing. We're helping those women who actually sit in the background and say, hey, you know what? You're talented. This is your worth. Let's get you out there. Let's connect you. Let's move your career along. We're all about advancing the women in our industry along or any individual in the industry along, be it women or men, but we're doing it collectively. We have an incredible core of women that I'm so incredibly grateful to be a part of. And we're an incredible pride, basically. We have each other's back. We support each other. We give advice. I mean, I'm on chat groups with these women about career, about family, about balance. And it's important to add that to your company. It's important to be a part of something that can really be beneficial if you look at it in the right light. That is awesome advice. Janet, we are out of time today, but I really want to thank you for sharing. That's from the heart. This is a great industry. Please come and join us. Janet, we'll see you sometime soon, somewhere, I'm sure, in the flesh. I hope maybe to fall before we all get out again. I don't know, but I will see you out there. Yes, I'm dying to, man. I'll meet you at the bar for sure. Okay. Thank you so much, Andrew. I really appreciate you taking the time. Mahala. All right. Take care. Aloha now. Aloha, everybody. We'll see you.